Dead on the Fourth of July
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Rating: M Time: The summer between Seasons Two and Three, AU of course.
"Are you okay, Kate?" Chrystal had been driving Kate Beckett out to the Hamptons every weekend for over a month and they had gradually gotten onto a first name basis.
"I'm worried, to tell the truth."
"Why? You're headed out to your boyfriend's house in the Hamptons to spend a week with him. Sounds great. Isn't it?"
"This time his mother and his teenaged daughter will be there. I'm worried about how they'll feel about me."
"They haven't met you before?"
Kate shook her head. "They know me mostly as Detective Beckett, the woman Rick works with. They've seen me once or twice as Kate, his girlfriend, but I'll be there a whole week this time. Suppose they find they don't like me?"
Chrystal laughed. "I've seen the way Mr. Richard Castle looks at you, girl. He's a lot more likely to get a new mom and daughter than a replacement for you. Now get on in the backseat of the limo. I gotta get you to the Hamptons."
Kate climbed into the back seat of the stretch limo, feeling that it was way too much room for just her.
Chrystal called from the front seat as they pulled out into traffic. "I've got some new coffee for you. Try the Sumatran coffee. I think you'll like it. Would you like some music?"
"Thanks, yes."
"What would you like to hear?"
Late thought. "Surprise me. We have similar tastes, I think."
In seconds, Kate was listening to Count Basie's rendition of April in Paris. She made her coffee and relaxed for the ride to the Hamptons.
As they turned onto Rick's property, Kate craned her neck to see if she could see Rick. What she saw shocked her. Standing next to Rick was a familiar blonde. If she could have found her voice, she would have told Chrystal to take her home. As it was, they pulled up slowly next to Rick and Gina.
Rick spun around, flashed a smile at Kate and ran to the limo. He opened the door and pulled Kate out and into a fierce embrace. He lifted her up and very thoroughly kissed her. "Kate, I'm so glad you're here. Where are your things? I'll take them inside."
Kate looked over Rick's shoulder at Gina. If looks could kill….
Before Chrystal could hand Kate's bags to Rick, Martha rushed out of the house, wearing a very gaudy beach robe and threw her arms around Kate. "Kathryn! I am so happy to see you! And you'll be staying with Richard for a whole week this time? Wonderful. We'll have such a time." Martha turned around and casually said, "Oh, hello, Gina. You're here?"
Before Gina could answer, Alexis rushed out of the house. She had on a short terrycloth robe and had apparently been in the pool as she was wet. She didn't want to get Kate wet, too, so she put her hands on Kate's shoulders. "Kate. This is so cool. Welcome. We'll have a great time here." Rick was headed for the house with Kate's suitcases and the four women followed him. Alexis said, "Oh! It's Gina."
They stopped just inside the house. "Gina paid me a surprise visit to see how the writing is coming on. I'll put your stuff in our bedroom, Kate, and then Gina and I can go into my office and I can show her how hard I've been working." Gina took off up the stairs without another word. Rick followed her and called back over his shoulder. "There's fresh coffee in the kitchen, Kate. I made your favorite."
Kate, Martha and Alexis clustered around the coffee maker. "What gives?" Kate asked.
Both Martha and Alexis succumbed to an attack of the giggles. Finally, Martha gained control of herself. "Gina showed up here about a half an hour ago and announced she was staying to keep Richard on the straight and narrow until his next book is finished."
Alexis finally stopped giggling. "Dad met her at the door, took her suitcase and put it back in her car. She took the suitcase back out and he put it back in. She hit him in the knees with it, so when he put it back in the car the next time, he hit her butt. It was like something out of the Three Stooges, or something. Finally, she left her bag in the car and she and Dad were arguing until you arrived."
Martha shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know which of my two ex-daughter in laws I like the least." Martha turned to Kate. "Oh, Kathryn, please don't think that my welcome would have been any different if Gina hadn't been here. You are going to be my all-time favorite daughter in law."
Kate blushed furiously and Alexis turned away, laughing.
They were interrupted by the sounds of a loud argument coming from Rick's office. There was the sound of the office door slamming and the sounds of the argument were muted.
Martha shook her head. "Gina always acted like she'd won a fancy pet in an auction when she married Richard. She was never able to understand why he wouldn't obey her. She even tried obedience school."
Alexis nodded. "She tried to be nice to me, but when she was, the subtext was, "Hey look! I did something nice for the redheaded kid. What do I win?"
Kate had to laugh. "Should we have coffee, ladies?"
The three women chatted and drank coffee, sort of trying not to listen to the blistering argument going on above them. Finally, Gina came flying down the stairs and out the front door. After a bit, they heard the sound of a car engine revving as Gina tore out of the driveway.
A minute or so later, Rick came down the stairs. "Gina won't be staying for lunch." He said, deadpan.
"Oh, such a shame." Martha said insincerely.
"I was a gentleman and did ask, mother."
"Of course you were, Richard."
Rick walked over to Kate and gave her a kiss. "Hi, good to see you again."
"Good to see you. Um, how did the review of your book go? Does…Black Pawn like it?"
Rick smiled and looked from Kate, to Martha to Alexis. "Actually, Gina had some slight problems with the book. She felt it was becoming too much of a romance novel. Too much Nikki and Rook, not enough hard-boiled detective action. She suggested that if this kept up, we might as well have Rook ripping Nikki's bodice open for the cover."
"I'm sure Kate could give you some help with that idea." Martha said.
"In fact, I do have some ideas along those lines."
"I hope I won't have to be ripping your bodice open, Kate. I'm usually more civilized than that."
"I don't think you'll have any problems with my bodice."
Alexis giggled. "I think I should go back to the pool before something happens that I'm not supposed to know about."
Martha announced that she would join Alexis at the pool. When both women were gone, Rick and Kate shared a long, passionate kiss.
"I hope you're not thinking of doing anything that Alexis shouldn't know about right here in the kitchen?" She said softly.
"I think we should go to our bedroom and put your clothes away."
"Put my clothes away? Is that what the cool kids call it these days?"
"Follow me and find out."
An hour later, with Kate's clothes well and truly put away, Rick and Kate came back down the stairs and into the kitchen. Both were dressed in shorts and tee shirts. Kate glanced at her watch. "Castle, that took a little over an hour. What will Martha and Alexis think?"
He shrugged. "I'll tell them that you spent most of your time in the bathroom re-doing your makeup. Which is mostly true, you were in there for far longer than you were with me."
"Castle…" She glared at him.
"They won't ask. They know we've been together for a while now. And Alexis and I have had that talk about S-E-C-K-S."
"I hope you learned something from her." Kate said as coldly s she could manage while stifling a smile.
"Shall we get some sun by the pool?" Rick asked, offering Kate his arm.
No sooner had they sat down than Alexis ran over to Rick. "Dad, just because Kate's here, that doesn't mean were going to change our cherished traditions, are we?"
"Cherished traditions?" Rick said, looking rather vague. "We have cherished traditions?"
"Dad!" Alexis squealed. "We always go to the Burgerama on our first night here. It's a sacred family tradition!"
"It is?" Rick said, looking puzzled.
Kate leaned over and spoke to Alexis. "I think I should insist that your father take us all to the Burgerama." She turned to Rick. "What is the Burgerama?"
"It's the place where all of the coolest high school kids go at night, since they can't get into any of the bars. Alexis will probably want to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner there. Take a good look at her, Kate. You may not see her again his summer."
Alexis stuck her tongue out at Rick.
"We'll all go to Burgerama tonight, Alexis." Rick said with a smile. "And we'll let you go in well before us so you're not humiliated by being seen with adults."
"Oh, I'll be happy to walk in with Kate." Alexis shot back.
Burgerama was exactly as Kate had imagined it. Full of noisy, happy high school students. Alexis had walked in several minutes before and was seated with some friends at a table. When she saw them, she waved and Kate waved back.
"I strongly recommend you not try the Free Burgerama Special." Rick said as he, Kate and Martha sat down."
"There's something wrong with free?" Kate asked.
"It's only free if you eat every scrap of the Special." Martha answered. "That's eight half pound patties on a foot long roll, with eight slices of cheese, and all the trimmings, and I do mean all. There's also a pound of French fries and a two quart milkshake. Richard, in a fit of believing that he was sixteen again tried to finish one about five years ago. He failed miserably."
"Miserably? What do you mean miserably? I ate the whole burger and all but a few of the fries and was working on the shake."
"And then it all came back up." Martha said dramatically. "All over the shoes I bought you for your birthday."
"I think I'll have the double cheeseburger, fries and a shake." Rick said quietly. Kate smiled, but said nothing.
When they were almost done with dinner, Alexis walked over to them. "Dad, can I stay for a while? Sally Loomis says she can drive me back home."
"Okay, but if you go anyplace else, let me know, okay?"
"Thanks, dad." Alexis said over her shoulder as she headed back to her friends.
As they left, a police officer approached them. "Mr. Castle? May I speak to you and Detective Beckett?"
"Sure, chief. Kate, this is our police chief, Chief Brady. Brady, this is my girlfriend, Kate Beckett, NYPD."
"What's wrong, Chief?" Kate asked.
"We've had a murder."
"Here?" Castle asked, clearly surprised. "Who?"
"Lisa St. Croix."
"Lisa? Damn! Who'd do something like that?"
"I don't know. That's why I want to talk to you. We don't have many murders here. There have only been two for as long as I've lived here. I was a kid for the first one. Jim Cornwall walked up to his wife's boyfriend in the Old Hampton's Inn and put three rounds in his head."
"Yeah." Castle muttered. "He hadn't even started on his appetizer."
"The other one was Kathy van der Meer." Brady continued. "She walked up to her husband' secretary and mistress, Andrea Madison, and emptied a Browning Hi-Power at her in Fingal's Jewelry. Thirteen 9mm rounds and Madison didn't get so much as a scratch. But two customers and a sales clerk died. And Mrs. Van de Meer couldn't keep her mouth closed. She kept blabbing all the way through the trial about how she'd kill Andrea if she ever got out."
"Did she?" Kate asked.
"Still doing life without parole. Her husband married Andrea and they seem happy."
"And you want…?" Kate asked, pointedly.
"I have no idea how to investigate this murder. I've read in the papers about how Mr. Castle helps you out, and how you're the best homicide detective in New York, the inspiration for Nikki Heat and all."
"And you'd like our help with the murder?" Kate finished for Chief Brady.
"Yes!"
Kate and Rick exchanged glances. "May I talk privately with my girlfriend, Chief?"
Rick led Kate a dozen steps away from the chief and from Martha. "Um, how do you feel about this?"
"I hate it. I came up here to be with you, not investigate a murder."
"So we should turn him down?"
Kate glared at all and sundry. "A woman is dead. What do you think the chances of Chief Brady solving a murder are?"
"Think snowballs and hell."
"I thought so." Kate took a deep breath. "How do you feel about it?"
"We should do it, and you know I love working with my favorite homicide detective."
"Let's give him the good news, then." Kate did not sound at all like the bearer of good news.
"We'll do it." Castle said to Chief Brady's obvious relief.
"What can you tell me about the vic?" Kate asked.
"Lisa St. Croix, single white female, just turned thirty, five feet seven, a hundred and fifteen pounds according to her driver's license. Works at Angstrom's Art Gallery, about three blocks from here."
"Single? What about boyfriends?"
Chief Brady looked confused. "Um, boyfriend? Well, that's complicated."
"Uncomplicate it for me."
"Well, Detective Beckett, Lisa was a very friendly girl. Extremely friendly. With everybody."
"She was the town whore?" Beckett cut in.
"Whore implies payment. According to reliable rumor, Lisa lost her virginity at age twelve and never stopped. She liked men and women and she liked a lot of them."
"What was her type?" Beckett asked.
"Type?"
"Did she go for rich older men? Young studs. Rough men, or women? Do any of those ring a bell?"
Chief Brady looked embarrassed. "Um, she liked anyone who had a pulse. Rumor had it that when our high school football team got to the state championships semi-finals for the first time ever, and they lost…She consoled the whole team."
"The whole team?" Kate said, somewhat shocked.
"Well, they say it was four at a time, over a period of two weeks."
"Did you investigate? That sounds like statutory rape."
"Um, we never got a complaint."
"There was old Mike Naylor." Castle added.
"Who was he?" Kate asked, tiredly.
"He's about seventy, seventy two. He lost his wife to cancer about seven years ago. Lisa would drop by every once in a while to…cheer him up. Or so they say."
"Anybody else?"
"Everybody else." Castle said.
"She was very attractive, I assume?"
Neither Castle nor the chief seemed to want to answer.
"She was attractive?" Kate repeated.
"Very." The chief muttered. "Beautiful face, great body, long legs, very athletic looking, big boobs…"
"Okay, I get the picture." Kate grumped. "Where was she found?"
"In the parking lot behind the art gallery where she worked. Rich Davidson had his big old truck parked on one side and there's a hedge on the other side, so no one saw her for a while."
"How long a while?"
"Um, I'm not sure. I'll find out though."
"And you know it's a murder how?"
"Detective Beckett, she's dead!"
"Of course she's dead. But people die without being murdered." Kate was starting to have second thoughts about this.
"Oh! She was shot in the head. Right side of the head. She was in the driver's seat. The killer was either her passenger, or shot her through the open window."
Kate shook her head. "I think Mr. Castle and I will go home and get a fresh start in the morning."